What is Nash's role?

MINNEAPOLIS Last game, Kobe Bryant passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in career assists. Two games before that, he passed Michael Jordan.

Bryant has more assists than any of the other four players left above him on the all-time scoring chart. He has been passing a lot more than you've noticed over the years.

So it's not exactly new, though he is now concentrating more on passing, for sure. It is increasing team energy while draining less of Bryant's energy, it should be noted — but the Lakers' loss in Phoenix on Wednesday night showed that trying to balance this approach with his natural inclination to shoot down the stretch is his newest challenge.

Meanwhile, Steve Nash has some stuff to figure out, too.

As in, what has happened to him?

There is one viable excuse. Nash's way is to take a break from basketball in the offseason. It's why he was able to say on the first day of training camp: “I feel as good as I've ever felt.” But the tradeoff for that freshness is basketball rust, which has been exacerbated by Nash's leg injury taking him off the court for 21/2 more months.

And with teammates unfamiliar with how, when and where to set picks for him to go where he wants, Nash has looked nothing like the old master and commander of the pick and roll.

If rust is at the root of it, maybe Nash gets some of his mojo back by playoff time. But the harsh reality is that for how entirely the world has changed during the course of this Lakers season, consider this:

In both the opening night loss to Dallas (seven points, four assists) under Mike Brown and the most recent loss to Phoenix (11 points, two assists) under Mike D'Antoni, Nash was basically Derek Fisher out there.

Nash was slow, trying to keep up on defense and generally not doing that much.

Nash has gone from D'Antoni's oft-declared unequivocal savior while mending the leg fracture — “Steve'll fix that” … “Steve'll get that to happen” … “Steve'll make me look like an offensive genius again” (well, maybe just paraphrasing the last one) — to the guy D'Antoni in recent days consistently references as “39 years old.”

That's D'Antoni's capsule explanation — even though Nash doesn't turn 39 for another week — for why Bryant is running the offense now, not Nash. D'Antoni says Nash will still carry the load at times, but Bryant can help him this way, and blah-blah-blah.

C'mon. If Nash was still Nash, D'Antoni of all people would never take the keys away and hand them to Bryant.

It is more obvious than ever that the roles are: Kobe leads the offense and Dwight leads the defense. It has left Pau Gasol and Nash — the two unselfish guys with egos that uncharacteristically don't match their NBA accomplishments who were supposed to teach teamwork — searching for ways to contribute.

When neither Nash nor Gasol were very healthy or very good, they haven't been able to lead in any way.

As unwelcome as Gasol's bench role is to him, D'Antoni is offering him the chance to take ownership of something: The coach hasn't played Bryant or Nash with Gasol and the second unit, letting Gasol do his thing on offense.

Nash has no distinct role and doesn't have the sort of personality to demand one.

In the fourth quarter in Phoenix on his homecoming night, Nash had one assist (hardly a classic one considering it came on a Bryant 22-footer). He took one shot, a missed 21-footer with 5:21 to play. He was such a nonfactor that he didn't even have any turnovers as the Lakers blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead.

“I think I can help,” Nash said afterward. “I definitely think that I can score and set up my teammates and especially in the fourth quarter take some pressure off Kobe. Those are things we've still got to work out and find that balance.”

Nash's idea of saving his legs for the fourth to carve up a defense unaccustomed to defending him is a great one … except it's pretty much impossible to envision Bryant standing off to the side at crunch time. That's the time Bryant wants the ball more, not less.

So Nash's search will go on. He has the sweetest attitude of anyone, but Nash must find something for himself. Whether it's making five 3-pointers every night or seizing a pick-and-roll time with Gasol early each game to play his old way, the guy who has made so many role players look so good in his career needs to find a role of his own.

Nash's mind doesn't work like Bryant's — always looking for something for himself, and thus indirectly the team — but it needs to start.

Assuming Nash's body is ready, he needs to go get something for himself and show everyone he's not just the good guy willing to help his team, he can still be the bad boy crushing opponents' hopes.

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